Non‐volatile multi‐level magnetic states switching in a geometrically frustrated Tb 0.95 Mn 1.5 Co 0.5 compound

Abstract The non‐volatile multi‐level magnetic or resistance states switching is extremely promising for new‐generation high‐density information storage. In this work, we propose a novel multiple‐state magnetic memory based on the magnetic deflagration in a single Laves‐phase Tb 0.95 Mn 1.5 Co 0.5 compound with non‐volatile and multi‐level magnetic states switching. In consideration of the negative magnetization, six different magnetic states are achieved by simply applying the magnetic field. The ab‐initio calculations and neutron diffraction measurements indicate that the studied compound is a cubic structure with ferromagnetic ordering at low temperature and the evolution in magnetic states (i.e. magnetic deflagration) should arise from the Barkhausen effect. The almost unchanged magnetic state under corresponding range of magnetic field enables the magnetization to be in the same magnitude even after 50 cyclic hysteresis loops. Furthermore, the retention, repeatable switching, and non‐volatile characters of multi‐level magnetic state have been primely confirmed. All these suggest that the Tb 0.95 Mn 1.5 Co 0.5 compound with multiple magnetic deflagrations could be applied to multiple‐state magnetic memory and this work would pave the way to design a novel multi‐level magnetic storage.